Wine is big in France. Of course. That’s well-known throughout the world. The French and their wines. Sure.

What is not as universally grasped is the French connection to cheese, or “fromage”, in French.

This is a country that produces at least 350 varieties of cheese.

(Americans over a certain age remember a youth with perhaps a half-dozen sorts of cheese ever consumed. American, cheddar, parmesan … and we’re about done.)

Not even the French can keep them all straight. And the rest of us? Overwhelmed by the choices.

Not every French geographical area produces wine. A hill or a dale or a swamp just may not support grapes.

But every square inch of France is capable of supporting cattle or sheep or goats, and the French are happy to make cheese using the milk of any of those three.

American tourists in France become aware of the cheese thing while eating at the better restaurants. If they consume a meal of any sophistication (or expense) … they will have a cheese course. Or, at the least, a chance to order cheese, even as a dessert.

The French typically place the cheese course second to last, after what we would call the entree, ahead of dessert. In most restaurants, even in the rustic surroundings of southern France, the chances are fairly good that a whole plate of cheeses will be produced, and the customer can pick any three or four of them for consumption. Additional bread will be produced, for the spreading of the squishy/stinky cheeses.

At a Valentine’s Weekend dinner last night, no choice of cheese was available, but the restaurant made up for it by producing an enormous wedge of white cheese — which not even all the French in the room were able to eat.

And if a visitor somehow misses the cheese course at a restaurant, just watching a bit of local TV will clue in a person to the elevated status of cheese in France.

One current TV ad shows a woman lingering at the cheese area of a supermarket — and the cheese area is about half an aisle, typically. She finally makes a choice, and a man — seen earlier hovering in the background — strides past the woman and takes the cheese from her and replaces it with the “superior” variety made by his company.

Another ad has a woman at a beach whispering in the ear of a lifeguard, who says: “Just the two of us?” She nods. The lifeguard then “discovers” an emergency out on the water and urges his fellow lifeguards to hustle out there and save someone, and off they run. Allowing the lifeguard-in-chief and the young woman to keep the cheese for themselves. Linking cheese and desire.

Another TV spot has a toddler of no more than 2 clamoring for the cheese his dad is talking up. (Each is wearing a rugby-style shirt; manly men eat cheese.) Father and son appear to be blissed out when they get around to sharing the cheese.

Children appear to be the targets of several cheesy ads. One has kids of 6 or 7 or 8 clamoring for Baby Bel (the soft cheese inside a wax cover). Another has a circle of children chanting “Kiri, Kiri, Kiri!” — which is a sort of cream cheese they cannot do without.

In the States, many kids don’t want cheese in any circumstance. I didn’t get around the cheeseburgers until junior high school.

The French often are considered to be moderate eaters with mostly healthy diets, but cheese makes that notion a bit harder to sell. Cheese is often tasty but it is pretty much pure fat and often hard to digest — even if a person is not lactose-intolerant.

Cheese and France … connected at the lips.